Tag: Office

  • The Last Day Before Vacation (Unedited)

    So, I’m a stay at home dad, primary care giver for my family, sketchbook drawer, and writer. I haven’t had a full time job in close to four years, I’m not complaining about that, just an observation. But, every now and then, I do miss going into the office, and in my case, it was a studio. Not that I liked the office, but a few of my jobs, I did work with some really great people, who were fun to be around, and made going to work a not so dreadful experience.

    One of the things that I found myself missing today was that feeling of working on the last day before holiday vacation started. You know, that day before you left for Thanksgiving, or Christmas, or even a long four day weekend for 4th of July. On those days, nothing was accomplished at work. There weren’t any clients, and the staff just sat around joking, and goofing off. At one job, I found a way for us to bowl down a hallway. At another, a colleague set up the TV in the conference room to watch “Sunny in Philadelphia.”

    Those were silly last days. Joyful, and giddy. Everyone was in a good mood, and the few clients that did come around were regulars, and took part in the fun with us. It felt like we were getting away with something.

  • A Small Home

    We live in a very small apartment in New York City, as do most people around here. I’m not complaining, as there is space for everyone to work, relax, and have some “alone time” in their respective rooms. We are very good and packing things away, and not letting space go unused. Our apartment is full, but in no way feels cluttered. Part of the reason for that is that we do have a storage space. But half of that unit is full of books.

    About once or twice a week, we start talking about buying a place Upstate. Not sure if we will ever really do it, or afford it, but in these conversations we dream of owning a weekend/vacation place. Maybe we rent it out for extra money, maybe we keep it all to ourselves. What we do know is that we can’t leave NYC for the foreseeable future, so we can’t buy a home too far away.

    Lately, I’ve had this crazy idea, which is that we buy some land, and have a small house built on the property – like a small two bedroom/one bath. Something very modest, quaint, and a basement would be cool, but it would be a house that is as far and away from a McMansion. (My brother’s house is so big; our apartment could fit in his livingroom. Not kidding on that.) I would be fine with a two-story, but all said and done under 1,000 square feet. Hell, it could be less that 800. The point here would be that with a decent piece of land, we could also add small out dwellings; like a studio for me, and an office for the wife. A guest house even. Maybe something for the kid. Who knows; I’m spending money I don’t have?

    I guess what I am describing here is wanting to build a complex; a compound. But one that doesn’t involve a cult. In one sense, I want to keep living in a small dwelling. But in another sense, I want to have several small dwellings so we can all go and disperse to them from time to time.

  • Last Day of Work Before Vacation

    There are a couple of things that I miss about working. I was lucky enough to have a couple of office experiences with some really great people, so to camaraderie of working with stealer people is one thing I miss. The other was working on a day before vacation starts. It was such a wasted day, and also a day that felt the closest to what the last day of school was like. (And for that matter, the feeling of the last day of school is the greatest feeling that I wish desperately that I could experience again… but alas… that is a story for another blog.) Sitting in an office, talking to co-workers about the pending holiday that we would all be off for, and just watching the minutes tick by was such a slow burn of boredom and anticipation wrapped in one. I don’t think I spilling the beans on the fact that in an office, no one, and I mean no one, works on the last day before vacation.

    There were so many times in the office, before Thanksgiving, or Christmas, or 4th of July, when we would spend the whole day just taking, swapping stories about families, and crazy things uncles and aunts would do after a bourbon or two. Bad Christmas gifts from siblings was a popular topic as well. A few times, I think before Christmas vacation, the office would head out to a bar and hang out for a couple drinks. Christmas lights and martini’s is a state of mind during the Holiday Season.

  • ODDS and ENDS: Dog Person, NYC, and The Sofa

    (Growing Equals Learning, and Vice Versa…)

    It dawned on me last night, as I was walking the dog around the neighborhood at 9pm, that I can’t go back to having a cat. I like cats, I have a soft spot for cats, and I love seeing bodega cats; they are my favorites. But I’m a dog person now. And it comes down to litter boxes. I prefer to have my animal friend relieve themselves on the street, or on occasion, in neighbor’s yard. I am totally fine with having green plastic bags on me to pick up poop. But the idea of having a box in my home that I have to clean excrement and clumping pee out of daily is a task that I never want to return to. This is not a knock against cats – it’s just that I don’t want to do that chore anymore. So, my lot is now thrown in with dogs.

    I still like living in New York. After everything that we have gone through these past three years, I still like this town. Wednesday and Thursday, I had to run errands all over Manhattan – from Harlem to the Battery, and I still find this place fascinating and thrilling, and dirty and gross, dangerous and wonderful. I fear that I might become one of those people who cannot function when away from the City. That I will be locked in a perpetual low-grade orbit of this place, never to break free.

    If my office is the couch, then I need a better couch.